Lions Club members from five counties pack 10,200 meals
An annual initiative by the local Lions Club gives a new meaning to the expression “lion’s share.”
The Lions District 14-N, which includes Butler, Armstrong, Beaver, Lawrence and Clarion counties, pack meals each winter to distribute to food pantries and cupboards in each of the district’s five counties. This year’s food packing extravaganza took place Saturday morning, Jan. 10, at the Blind Association of Butler and Armstrong, where more than 50 Lions Club members managed to pack 10,200 meals to give to area food pantries.
Jeff Loudermilk, secretary of the Slippery Rock Lions and district administrator, said this was the most food the district ever packed at one of these group efforts, having started a few years ago at about 300 packs and adding to that number each ensuing year.
“Each club, they get an equal share to take back,” Loudermilk said. “They take those back to food cupboards within their community, benefiting the people in need in their own communities.”
And according to several of the 50-plus people packing food Saturday, the need for food is consistent in each of the district’s five counties. Member of the Beaver Falls Lions Club said the food they are taking back with them from the packing on Saturday will be distributed through churches in the area that have food pantries.
“It’s definitely needed,” said Jackie Fullen, secretary of the Beaver Falls Lions Club. “My church has a food pantry these will go to.”
Food for the packing was provided by the Outreach Program, a nonprofit organization based in Des Moines, Iowa. The meals packed were all dry ingredients which Loudermilk said just need water and some heat to prepare, making them easy for anyone to make.
He added that people who get these meals from the food pantries they eventually end up at have come to look forward to seeing them on the shelves.
“All they have to do is take one of these packets and put it in boiling water and they have enough for four people,” Loudermilk said. “I have a person who works at a food bank in Slippery Rock, and he always tells me when we do these the people who come for their meals ask, ‘When are you going to have more of those great meals?’”
Eating the meals is not the only enjoyable part about them. Everyone at the packing Saturday was in good spirits, in part because Lions enjoy getting together, according to Brad Baillie, district governor of the Lions District 14-N. They also had a little competition going, with the people manning the three rows of tables each trying to finish packing their meals before the other two “table teams.”
Baillie said the Lions is a good organization to get involved with because club members find many different causes they can get involved in, and they can get a lot of people on board to help.
“Every little area has a food cupboard you can help,” Baillie said. “Everyone is just happy to be giving back to their communities.”
As each meal bag reached the end of the table, they would be sealed into boxes to be taken to food pantries across Western Pennsylvania. Each completed box was celebrated with the ringing of a bell by one of the Lions.
Loudermilk said the district aims to found two new Lions clubs in 2026, after having founded a few in 2025. The Beaver Falls Club is relatively new, and one of its members, Mary Ellen Dean, who is also regional Zone Chairwoman of the Lions District 14-N, said it is looking for people to join, whether they live in the area or not.
“There are no boundaries,” Dean said. “We meet the second and fourth Tuesday of the month from 6 to 7. We try to keep it short.”
For more information on the Lions Club district, visit its website at lionspa14n.org.
